


Infatuation

by spacedust719



Category: Bohemian Rhaspody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF
Genre: F/M, Fluff, More Fluff, pinning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-03-01 06:21:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18794713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacedust719/pseuds/spacedust719
Summary: Ben moves into a new building. He meets one of his new neighbors after his dog Frankie lets herself in the neighbor’s apartment. Ben is immediately infatuated with his neighbor





	Infatuation

    Ben and Frankie walked into the lift coming in from their last walk of the night. Ben had been up late unpacking boxes in his new flat. As soon as the doors shut, Ben removed the leash from Frankie’s collar. Given the late hour, Ben figured no one else would interrupt the ride to his floor. Frankie darted out of the lift as soon as the doors opened. Ben watched her stop in front his door. Right as he was starting to think how smart of a dog she was, Frankie turned to the door across the hall. She appeared to just be smelling it, but the door cracked open and Frankie let herself in.

    “Fuck” Ben mumbled to himself. He hadn’t met any of his neighbors yet. The door Frankie entered was the door “White Queen (As It Began)” playing from earlier in the day. He really hoped the resident was as cool as their taste in music. Ben reached the door about 20 seconds after Frankie. Hopefully she hasn't caused too much ruckus in that timeface. Ben nervously knocked on the door. A pleasantly chipper voice told him to come in. Ben entered the apartment which was a mirror image of his, just vastly different decorations. Standing in front of the windows opposite the door was a exquisite woman. Her hair was all pulled up in a messy bun except for a small curl that escaped at the nape of her neck. Ben thought she was holding a garotting wire till he realized she was standing in front of a tall table with clay on it. There was a playful smile her on lips.

    “Does this belong to you?” She pointed towards Frankie lying on an armchair. Ben didn’t know which surprised him more, the fact that his neighbor was so chill about his dog letting herself in or that Frankie was receiving a tongue bath from a dark colored cat also laying on the chair. Ben tilted his head at the slight. The woman laughed.

    “My cat might be defective, or is actually just a weird looking dog. He likes dogs and can play fetch.”

    Ben looked up at the woman again, “Maybe she can teach Frankie. She hasn’t quite got that one down yet.”

    She smirked, “Cute name for a cute dog. Hi, I’m Y/N. I’d offer a hand but they are a bit dirty.” Y/N held up two clay covered hands.

    Ben gave a small wave, “Ben. Sorry Frankie just let herself in. I thought it would be safe in the hall with no leash.”

    “No worries. Loki seems to be enjoying the company.” They both looked at the dog and cat now curled up together sleeping. Ben sighed at his pup.

    “Loki? Big Marvel fan?” Ben realized he should grab his dog and let his neighbor be but couldn’t seem to get himself to leave her company.

    “I’ve seen a few of the movies. He had the name when I adopted him from the shelter as a kitten. I hadn’t decided if I was going to keep the name, then I left him home alone the first time. Came home to paint on EVERYTHING! Turns out he could jump on my table. The mischievous moniker stuck.” Y/N smiled over at Ben and he felt butterflies.

    Ben walked up to the armchair and looked down at his dog, “Frankie, let's go home.” Frankie rolled over and exposed her belly as she does when requesting it be rubbed.

    Y/N giggled, put down her wire clay cutter, wiped her hands on a towel, and approached the chair herself. She tapped her hand against her collarbone twice and said “Loks”. The cat woke up, meowed up at his owner, then jumped up into her arms. Ben looked at them incredulously.

        “Yeah, I told you he’s a weird cat.” She laughed as the cat nuzzled into her neck while she rubbed behind his ears.

Frankie was now fully awake since she lost her cuddling partner. Ben reattached the leash to her collar and picked his own furry child up. “Sorry again she let herself in.”

”It’s really no problem. I must have left the door unlatched.” Y/N reached forward and rubbed Frankie. “Frankie is welcome anytime.”  Ben tried not to make too direct of eye contact. He thought he could get lost in those beautiful, twinkling irises.

Ben swallowed hard, “Thanks. It was nice meeting you both. Have a good night.” Ben scrunched up his face as Frankie started licking his face. Ben was almost to the door when Y/N called out.

”Ben.” Ben turned around.

“Welcome to the building. Have a good night, too”

 

*********************

 

It had been about a week since Frankie let herself into Y/N’s apartment, but Ben couldn’t get her out of his head. A couple times, Ben found himself looking out his peephole when he heard someone in the hallway. Neither had been who he wanted to see. The second time, he looked down to Frankie who had followed him to the door, “you’d think your dad had never seen a beautiful woman before.” In Ben’s line of work, that was hardly the case. He was around stunning people of both genders all the time. There was just something about her though. Ben didn’t think he believed in love at first sight, but this was 100% infatuation at first sight. Ben sighed and walked to the cupboard to get Frankie her dinner. She wagged her tail in appreciation as she munched on the biscuits. Ben went to his kitchen table where his laptop was sitting to order himself some takeaway for dinner. About ten minutes later there was a knock on his door. It was way too early for the food and he didn’t buzz anyone in. He finally saw who he wanted out the peephole.

You smiled brightly when Ben opened the door, “Hi Ben! Do you eat cake?”

Ben chuckled, “I’m a human being, yeah”

You laughed and held up a large white box, “Would you like some? I have an excess.”

Ben opened the door wider so Y/N could enter. Frankie patted over to to see what was happening. Y/N sat the cake down on the kitchen table and then kneeled down to greet Frankie. She cooed at the beagle while scratching behind the ears. Frank lapped up all the attention. Ben opened the box and saw an almost complete round cake with shiny frosting that was colored like the galaxy. Ben asked, “Why do you have so much cake?”

Ben looked down and saw Y/N sitting on the ground, despite being in a rather nice dress, with Frankie sitting in her lap and licking her face. Ben scoffed, “Frankie, give her some space.”

Y/N spoke to the dog, “Ooohh, It’s okay Frankster. I turn into an attention whore too when people give me affection. Especially by my ears. Yeah, is that your sweet spot?” She continued to scratch behind Frankie’s ears. This thankfully kept her from noticing Ben flushing at the thought of giving Y/N affection himself. Frankie seemed to have enough attention and went over to drink some water. Y/N stood up again.

“I nicked the cake from work. I work at a fancy gallery that had an open house tonight. There was about 5 cakes total for the party. No one was eating it. There was still 3 in the fridge when I was getting ready to come home. There’s now only 2.”

    Ben laughed heartily, “but there is a piece missing. Someone was eating it.”

    She smiled, “yeah. I gave a piece to my Uber driver. May I wash my hands? Dog saliva.” She wiggled her fingers at Ben.

    While she was standing at the sink, Ben told her there was silverware two drawers over from the sink and the plates were above it. “Would you please grab two plates?” She walked back over to Ben. Ben cut two pieces. Ben tasted it. “This is some really good cake.” She hummed in agreement since her mouth was full. Ben motioned towards one of the kitchen table chairs for her to sit down as he pulled out one for himself. Y/N smiled and sat kitty-corner to Ben. Ben bit his lip hesitantly. He really wanted to get to know her better. Hopefully, she wasn’t weirded out by what he decided to ask. “I had ordered some real food. Since I am ruining my dinner, would you like to stay and share the takeaway. It should be here soon.”

Y/N had a small amount of cake in her mouth. She covered her mouth slightly as she swallowed the bite and spoke, “what did you get?”

“Chinese”

“That sounds great! Thanks”

Ben stood to get a drink, “Can I get you something to drink?”

“What are you having?”

Ben pulled cider from the fridge and showed her. She gave a thumbs up, so Ben pulled another from the fridge. As he was walking back to the table, the intercom buzzed. Ben excused himself to go down for the food. When he came back up, Y/N was getting two large plates out of the cupboard.

“I hope this is okay. I saw them earlier when I grab the cake plates.”

“Course it's okay. Thank you.” Ben offered the food to Y/N and filled his own plate after she did hers. Ben started asking questions about Y/N work at the gallery and her artwork, learning the gallery lets her put some of her own art up and may even give her a full show this summer. Ben tries to remain calm because he wants to know everything but doesn’t want to come off as overeager. Conversation came easy with Y/N. He started to feel like he had known her for a while, even though he didn’t ask until about an hour in where she grew up.”

“I lived in Birmingham till I went to art school.”

Ben got excited, “One of my best mates, Gwilym Lee, is from Birmingham. Sutton Coldfield.”

Y/N looked down at her plate, “Why do I know that name? It’s not from back home?”

Ben thought about it, “I think he may be a few years older than you. So probably not from school.”

Y/N smirked at Ben, “And how old do you think I am?”

Ben chewed on his thumb nail as a pause, one of his nervous tics,”I’m not going to guess”

She laughed at that, “I could tell you are a smart man. So Ben, we’ve talked a lot about me. How do you support Frankie?”

Ben laughed at her wording of the question, “I’m an actor.”

“Do you do theater? I peaked at your bookcase when you were downstairs. I’d guess you’d be a theater actor.”

“I started in theater after drama school. Then some TV and mini series. I’ve done film recently. I’d like to do theater again.”

Y/N smiled, “The actor thing makes sense. You’re not exactly...difficult to look at.”

Ben felt himself flush, “Thanks. You’re nice to look at too.”

Y/N looked at Ben bashfully through her eyelashes. “Thanks.” She shifted nervously, “I should get home. I need to feed Loki. Make sure he hasn’t destroyed my flat. Thanks for dinner.”

Ben was sad to lose her company but grateful she had stayed at all, “Thanks for the cake! And the company. You’re a better conversationalist than Frankie.”

She laughed, “Oh, I’m sure you have great conversations with Frankie. Night, Ben.”

“Night, Y/N” Ben gave a small wave as she turned to enter her apartment.

 

**************

Ben is trying to keep Frankie from following him out the door. Her nose is currently blocking him from shutting the door completely, “No girl. I’ll be back soon. You can’t come to the shops.” He hears a voice from behind him. One he had missed out on hearing for a couple weeks.

“I’m sure she’d be a great shopping partner.”

Ben turns and instantly smiles at his gorgeous neighbor. She smiles back and he can feel himself flush. That’s really embarrassing Ben thinks to himself. It’s not like this is my first crush. Ben can’t help the heat rising in his face every time he sees her and the butterflies he gets every time he’s the one that makes her smile. Ben tries to make a joke and hopefully make her smile more. “Frankie is good at shopping for food. She’s terrible at helping me pick out jewelry.” The smile doesn’t come. Ben could kick himself. That sounds like he has a girlfriend.

“Maybe Frankie is just jealous the jewelry isn’t for her. Who are you shopping for?”

Thankfully Ben has an opportunity to clear this up, “It’s my mum’s birthday tomorrow. I’ve been busy and haven’t had a chance to find something.”

Y/N tilts her head and looks off in the distance for a second. “What kind of stuff does she like?”

Ben sighs, “She makes it difficult for me. She likes really unique stuff. A little on the eclectic side. I have a hard time find stuff that looks like her taste. Maybe I should get her a nice watch.”

Y/N motions towards her door, “Hold on. Come in here for a minute.” She digs her keys out of her bags, almost dropping some of her grocery bags. Ben reaches forward and takes them from her. She smiles gratefully and opens the door, then keeps talking, “If your mom doesn’t have a watch by now, she probably doesn’t want one. I think I may have something that could work. I’ll take those bags from you, thanks.” She takes the bags back from Ben and places them on the kitchen counter. Ben follows her over to the alcove of the apartment where he has his TV. Y/N has hers set up with shelves and a dresser with various art projects on them. She kneels down in front of the dresser. She is in one of the drawers looking in small colorful gift boxes. She pauses for a second to pet Loki who has wandered over and is looking in the drawer too, occasionally batting a box. This behavior seems more catlike than Ben had previously seen. Ben starts looking at the art on the shelves. On top, leaning against the wall is an amazing painting of waves. Ben realizes the white crests of the waves are 3D. He looks forward and is making eye contact with a clay bust of an old man. Ben is startled for a second because of how realistically it's carved. He hears giggling. Y/N is standing again and saw him get scared of the bust. Ben blushes yet again, “Did you do this? She nods. “It’s really good.” There’s the smile Ben adores.

“Thanks! It’s my grandpa.”

Ben points to the painting, “This is yours too?”

“Yeah, I did that in art school. I think it’s my favorite painting I’ve ever done. It’s the only one I’ve ever kept.”

Ben nods, “I can see why you kept it. It’s amazing”

Y/N bites her, “Thanks. I used to make jewelry but I haven’t recently. Does this work for your mom?” She holds out a small purple box to him. Ben opens it and sees and intricately twisted and twirled silver, rose gold, and yellow gold wire cuff bracelet.

“Bloody hell, is there anything you aren’t good at?” Ben looks up from the bracelet and sees her walking towards him with her arms out to hug him. Ben immediate opens his arms for her. She snuggles in against Ben’s chest and he holds her there tightly. She pulls back way earlier than Ben would have chosen.

“Sorry. I had a frustrating day at work where I was completely stuck on where to go next on a sculpture. Everything seemed like a terrible idea. Hearing someone say I’m good just means a lot right now.” Y/N has the warmest smile Ben has seen yet on her face.

Ben shifts on his feet, “Well I know practically nothing about art outside of some photography stuff, but I just like your stuff.”

Y/N laughs lightly, “I’m still going to take the compliment. Do you think your mom would like the bracelet?”

“Yeah, it’s perfect. How much do you want for it?”

She seems hesitant to say an amount. “Can I trade you it for a favor? Feel free to say no.”

Ben would love to do anything he could to help her. He decides against saying that though. “I’m going to try and still give you some money for this, but I’ll do the favor as well.”

Y/N playfully rolls her eyes, “I’m not going to take your money. I am going to be out of town from Wednesday morning will Friday evening. Would you be willing to come feed Loki? Maybe give him some affection once a day? My normal cat-sitter can’t.”

Ben looks down at the cat winding his way around Ben’s legs like he knows he’s being discussed. Ben chuckles, “of course! Does he do well in new places? Since he and Frankie like each other, I could just take him to mine? If you want. That way he’ll get lots of affection from me and Frankie.”

Y/N’s warm smile is back. “Loki and I would both really appreciate that. If you’re willing to do that, I’m definitely not taking your money.”

 

**************

 

Ben is leaning against the wall of his lift going up to his flat. He is so glad to be home. He’s been training all day for his next role and just wants to cuddle Frankie on the couch. Better yet, cuddle her on his bed and go to sleep. It takes far too much energy for Ben to push himself off the wall when the doors open. When he gets to the door, there is a note taped to it. “Frankie is fine, but she’s in my flat - Y/N”. Ben’s heart is immediately racing and he’s panicking at what could have happened that caused Frankie to end up in her flat. Ben turns and knocks. The door is slightly ajar again and the door opens. He peaks in and sees you sitting on the couch with Frankie asleep on your lap. It warms his heart of a second till he notices Frankie’s left leg and right paw are bandaged. Ben races over, kneels in front of his dog, and puts a hand on her back. He can feel tears in his eyes as Y/N looks up at him, “What happened?”

Y/N puts her hand on top of Ben’s, “She’s okay! She did have to get a few stitches. I came home at lunch time and could hear whimpering coming from your door. I knocked but you didn’t answer. It sounded like Frankie came closer to the door. She was crying. I MAY have broken into your flat using a bobby bin, my sculpting tools and YouTube. I didn’t know how to get ahold of you and didn’t think you’d mind. I’d want you do to the same. There was glass on the floor by your coffee table. Frankie was bleeding. I took her to the vet down the road. She had a piece of glass in the bottom of one paw and a cut on her other leg. I think it had just happened because there wasn’t much blood on the ground. She’s a little sleepy right now because they gave her some pain meds. The bandages can come off tonight. The stitches on her leg can come out in two weeks. I made her an appointment that I would be able to go to if you can’t. Ben, are you okay? You look pale.”

Ben let out a breathe he didn’t know he was holding. “I don’t know how I can thank you for this. Thank you so much! I am very glad you broke into my flat.”

Y/N patted the sofa next to Frankie and Ben sat there. “I get it. She’s your furry little daughter.”

Ben blurted out, “Can I take you on a date? I wanted to already. I just had gotten the courage to ask yet.”

Y/N smiled bashfully, “Tonight?”

Ben shook his head, “no, not tonight. One I can properly plan. I wanted to take you on the best date ever before you were Frankie’s savior.”

Y/N rested her head on the back of the sofa and looked over at Ben fondly, “I’d really like that. Do you want to stay and hang out tonight anyways? Frankie looks too comfortable to be moved right now.”

Ben suggested, “Can I cook you dinner?”

Y/N nodded, “What can you make?”

Ben grimaced, “can I order us dinner?”

Y/N laughed warmly, “That sounds perfect.”

 


End file.
